Chapter iiI
That night, far away in the capital, an emergency meeting was being held. The Judge sat behind his desk, asking the Council questions, as to what their next move should be. Four hours dragged on, until the question arose,
“What do we do if he finds out?! Are we supposed to just wait idly by as he gets stronger?” In response to this question, one of the Councilmen answered,
“I agree! He doesn’t need a healer; he needs a jailer!” The room erupted with both cheers in agreement and boos in disagreement. The Judge ferociously pounded his desk with the gavel in a vain attempt to redirect the Council’s attention,
“ORDER! We shall have ORDER!” When the Council had calmed down enough that someone could speak, the Judge explained,
“You’re correct to be cautions, but let me remind you that if he doesn’t have a healer he will die! And as the last of their race, that is not something we can afford to risk!” The Council agreed with his every word. After a couple of seconds, one of the Councilmen made a suggestion,
“In light of that fact, I move that we put him under house arrest. Let’s keep him in one place where we can monitor his actions.” The room went silent as everyone present thought about this suggestion. The Judge was about to make a comment when the same Councilman from Sam’s trial spoke up for the first time this meeting,
“I can’t believe that you want to treat him like a criminal! He’s a child! He doesn’t even know what he is! Why not use that to train him to be on our side, rather than use him like a puppet!” A Councilman from across the room stood up in protest and shouted,
“How dare you, Abaara! You speak of him like he’s just an average citizen; when in reality he is the strongest being alive!! Not only could he overpower our entire army single-handed, but he will surely outlive ALL of us!” In response to this accusation, the Abaara stood up and shouted,
“What does that matter?!” To this, the Judge stood up and practically screamed,
“Abaara, SIT DOWN!!” And thus, the only Councilman who wanted to defend Sam was forced to keep silent. The judge sat back down, the room was now deathly quiet. In all the years that the Council had been meeting, never before had the Judge responded like this. It startled everyone. The Judge broke the silence after about ten seconds,
“I second the motion that we put Sam under house arrest in the home of Doctor Emizaneth Monret. We shall have spies watch the house at all hours; Sam may not leave the building. And until such a time when we can better control Sam’s actions and powers, he must be watched and guarded.” The room was silent, the Judge continued,
“All in favor?” About three quarters of the Council answered,
“Aye!” The Judge spoke again,
“All opposed?” The remainder if the Council answered,
“Nay!” The judge looked around the room and made a rough estimate of how many answered ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Afterward, he smacked his desk with the gavel and said,
“The decision has been reached and it will be in affect starting tomorrow. Meeting adjourned.”
After this, all of the Council members stood and left the Council Hall to return to their homes for the night. The Judge remained in his seat and called to Abaara before he left,
“Abaara, come here.” Abaara was hesitant but obeyed. He approached the large desk that the Judge sat behind and stopped when he was about ten feet away from it. The judge waited for everyone else to leave the room to speak. He quickly looked around the room, just to make sure that on one was still there, then he looked down at Abaara, with a grim expression on his face,
“Explain yourself.” He demands,
“I apologize, sir. I only want what’s best for the boy-- “
“What’s best for the boy?!” The Judge interrupted,
“What’s best for the boy is whatever I say is!” The Judge continues, rage clearly painted on his face,
“We’ve been working too hard on this for something to go wrong.”
“Yes, that’s true. But, you can’t treat him like he’s just some beast in need of a cage! He’s the last of his race!!! We can’t afford to lose him!” Abaara screamed,
“It doesn’t matter! A race goes extinct every day! What does it matter if another one dies!” The Judge protests,
“It matters, because we took an oath. When we came to office, we took an oath to uphold justice for all.” Abaara explains,
“We are upholding justice. With his power we can destroy anyone and anything that threatens us. We can have peace.” The Judge smiles cruelly,
“Oh, so you want to kill everyone that opposes your power?” Abaara inquires,
“Yes and no! I want to destroy those who threaten our community!” The Judge yells,
“Listen to me, Daniir, this isn’t going to work. The people won’t see what you’re accomplishing, they’ll see that you’re murdering the last of a mighty race to do so.” Abaara reasons. Daniir thought for a moment then responded,
“Get out. You’re no longer a member of this council. Remove your honorary robe, leave this building, and never come back.”
“You can’t do that!!” Abaara screams,
“Yes, I can. I just did.” Daniir responded, sounding calm and collected. Abaara threw his books to the ground and threw his robe in Daniir’s face. Abaara stormed out of the building and went home. The moment he was alone in his house, behind locked doors, he began conceiving a plan to thwart Daniir’s plans and save Sam’s life.
The next morning, at Emi’s house, Sam awoke before the First Sun rose, with the intent of re-learning the extent of his powers. In Sam’s mind, it was like riding a bike… He knew how to use his powers at some point… He just needed to remind himself. He spent two hours, in the living room, trying to time travel. But, no matter what he did, he couldn’t get it to work.
"Why is it that when I don’t want to time travel, I do, but when I’m trying to time travel, it doesn’t work!" Sam thought to himself. He tried everything… Thinking about something in the past, longing for something in the future, banging his head against the wall saying, “time travel” to himself, but... Nothing worked.
Emi awoke at 7:30 AM (Earth time), as she always does, and came downstairs to start the morning, and was rather surprised to find Sam sitting crisscross in the middle of the living room chanting, “time travel” in a deep voice. Emi stood at the entrance to the sitting room puzzling.
“Um… What are you doing, exactly?” Emi asked, slightly tilting her head to the right. Sam hadn’t heard her come into the room, so her sudden inquiry startled him out of his trance. Sam turned his head to see who was standing in the doorway but, noticing that it was only Emi, he said,
“I’m trying to get my powers to work.” And returned to his chanting. Emi mouthed the word, “oh” and nodded, then entered the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, Sam groaned loudly then fell on his back. Emi ran over to him and yelled,
“Are you okay!?” When she got to Sam, she found him lying on his back, scowling at the roof.
“Yes. I’m fine. I’m just frustrated that I’ve spent hours trying to get my powers to do SOMETHING, but… Nothing’s happening!” Sam groaned again. Emi rolled her eyes, shook her head, stood up, and returned to the kitchen.
Half of Sam wanted to continue to work on his powers, but the other half wanted him to give up. So, he continued to lie on the floor, thinking to himself.
After a few minutes, the smell of food urged him to rise from the floor. Thus he did and, taking a seat at the dining room table, he awaited the meal. While he awaited the meal, he continued to think to himself,
“Hmm… I wonder what breakfast is going to be. I could really go for some griddle-cakes right now. Huh… I wonder if Emi knows what griddle-cakes are. If she doesn’t, I could explain them to her. But, then again, I don’t know if she would have the ingredients. Now that I think about it… Would anyone here have the ingredients to make griddle-cakes? Speaking of griddle-cakes… I’d love a glass of chocolate milk.” Sam closed his eyes and remembered how chocolate milk tasted. He opened his eyes again… And sitting on the table in front of him was a glass of chocolate milk.
He blinked repeatedly and rubbed his eyes, thinking, “Now… I’m seeing things”. But, it didn’t go away. He looked at Emi, who was still standing next to the stove, and asked,
“Did you… Put this here???” Pointing to the glass. Emi turned and looked at the glass full of something brown, sitting on the otherwise empty table, and responded,
“No. I didn’t put that there…” She paused what she was doing and walked to Sam’s left side and inquired,
“What is it?” Sam looked up at her and replied,
“It’s a drink from Earth called chocolate milk.” He picked up the glass and took a drink. He held the glass in front of his face, to get a closer look at it, and thought to himself,
"Well… It tastes right." He looked up to Emi, who was still contemplating the sudden appearance of this drink. Just then… Her eyes widened, and she spoke softly,
“Wanderer Sight.” Sam gazed at her confusedly and asked,
“What did you say?” Not only did Emi not answer but, unable to control her excitement, she skipped around the kitchen, like a school girl, making a high pitched squeaking sound that could vaguely be described as: giggling. The only thing that Sam could compare the sight to, were those high school dramas where the girl is finally asked to the dance by the guy she likes. But, because his question wasn’t answered, Sam asked again,
“What did you say?” Emi paused, just for a moment, simply to repeat,
“Wanderer Sight!” Then continued to dance around the kitchen. Sam had half a mind to ask her what Wanderer Sight was, but… The other half wanted to continue watching Emi skip around. It made him feel… Happy inside. And only for a moment, it was almost like, time slowed, just so he could watch her express her joy. Without Sam even knowing it… A gentle smile spread across his face. Then, suddenly, Sam realized what was happening. He had made an inanimate object out of nothing, and he was slowing time. Sam stood from his chair, raised his arms above his head, and yelled,
“I’m doing it!! My powers are working!!” Then, the world went black.
Sam could hear muffled yells and screams, he opened his eyes, only for a moment, and got a glimpse of bright lights. For a moment, Sam could only hear his heavy breathing, then the screaming came back, a little clearer, he opened his eyes, again only for a moment, and the light was a little clearer, this time he could see shadows of figures running in front of the light, as well. Silence, he took one deep breath, and opened his eyes once more. Fire… The light was fire. He could make out the flames dancing across his field of vision, but his vision was still blurry; the screams still muffled. He closed his eyes, and breathed deeply, then opened his eyes. The screams were clear, now. The flames vivid. And the figures… He could make out their appearance… Wanderers… He could see Wanderers. They wore decorated robes, and beautiful headdresses, resembling crowns. He tried to move, but... Something kept him still. He looked down, to see that he was covered to his chest in rubble. He tried his hardest to move… But couldn’t. He tried to scream, but no sound came out. He looked around, trying to get the attention of those who ran past, but no one noticed. He started to cry, his voice came back, and he whimpered,
“Help me… Please, anyone, help me.” A shadow covered him. He looked up, and saw a figure standing before him. It looked young… Like it was a child. It came close and said,
“Don’t worry, I’ll get that off you!” It was the voice of a young girl, kind, gentle… Familiar. She struggled to remove the large chunks of building that sat upon him. But, she freed him… One chunk at a time. Sam could barely move his arms, but his legs wouldn’t function. He gently felt his legs… Broken, just below his knees.
“Can you walk?” She asked. The only response Sam could give, was to shake his head. The girl looked down for a moment, then said,
“It’s okay… Umm… I’ll… Uh… I’ll wait. Yeah! I’ll wait with you until they heal.” And she sat beside Sam. Sam didn’t know what she meant by that statement, but he was happy that he wasn’t left alone. Ten minutes of people panicking and fire spreading went by, until she said something,
“How do they feel?” Sam wanted to scold her and say that, ‘broken legs don’t just heal’, but instead of repaying her kindness with hostility, he just felt his legs again. Nothing… They were fixed… As if they were never broken in the first place. Just then, he realized that he had full control of his arms as well. He couldn’t believe it. He thought aloud,
“Ha… They’re healed…” In response, the girl jumped up and said,
“Alright, great! Let’s go.” She put out her right hand to help Sam up. Sam took her hand and stood up.
Immediately, they started running; following the crowd of Wanderers, scrambling to get somewhere. Sam could tell that something bad was happening, given the expressions of the people and their panicked movements. Sam had honestly never seen people this scared except in movies where the people are getting attacked by a vastly superior force.
“Is that what’s happening?” Sam thought to himself,
“Are we being attacked?” Right as Sam finished this thought, he heard a multitude of roaring engines in the distance, getting closer. There were cries and screams, some wept saying,
“They’re coming back!” It was chaos, Wanderers were trampled as some scrambled to find cover, anywhere they could, while others kept running. Sam, however, was dragged into a house by the girl. Everyone tried to hush, and in the silence, Sam could hear the engines clearer. As the sounds came closer… The explosions started. Everywhere, on all sides, the sound of bombs going off! In the midst of all this… A bomb was dropped, right outside of the house that Sam was hiding in. The light was blinding and the explosion blew Sam against the wall. The world went black.
Sam screamed as he awoke from his slumber. He sat on the guest bed crying, sweating, and panting. He removed the covers and sat on the edge of the bed massaging his face, mumbling to himself. He looked at the clock: 5:45PM,
“I was out for TEN hours?!” Sam thought to himself. He jumped up from the bedside, stretched, then left the room.
The first thing he did was make his way to Emi’s room. The door was open, so he looked inside…
“Not here…” Sam thought to himself. After checking Emi’s room, he checked the whole upper floor, to no avail. After this, he made his way to the main level. After turning the corner, he found Emi lying on the love seat reading a book. Sam paused for a moment, thinking of the best way to make his presence known. He settled for the first thing that came to mind, and asked, as he entered the sitting room,
“What’cha readin’ there?” Emi turned her head to face Sam. She sighed a great sigh of relief and said,
“Thank goodness you’re awake!” as she stood up, put the book down, and before Sam could respond, Emi locked him in a bear hug, closed her eyes, and rested her head against Sam’s chest. Sam tried to hug her back, but he couldn’t move his arms. Due to the fact that Sam was losing the ability to breathe, he quickly asked a question--despite already knowing the answer--in hopes that Emi would loosen her grip,
“How long was I out?” In response to this question, Emi just hugged Sam tighter and said in a calm voice,
“About ten hours.” Sam could just barely breathe at this point. Desperate to get some oxygen in his lungs, Sam said,
“Okay… Please, let go… Can’t breathe.” Emi opened her eyes and let go of Sam, saying,
“Sorry. I was just… Really worried.” Sam could see that her eyes were tearing up, so he smiled and said, as he set his hands upon Emi’s shoulders,
“I’m fine. In fact, after the lack of sleep that I had last night, I think it was good for me.” Emi chuckled gently and a single tear fell from her left eye. Sam lifted his right hand, rested it upon the left side of her face, and, with his thumb, wiped the tear away. Emi lifted her left hand and held Sam’s right hand. They looked deep into each other’s eyes. The world stood still and for a glorious moment… There was only Sam and Emi… Together. They took a step closer to each other. They both smiled gently and… BAM-BAM-BAM!! Three blows to the front door shocked the two out of their happy state of mind and hey both stared at the door. Because the door was solid, without any windows, they couldn’t see what was on the other side. So, Emi slowly, cautiously, approached the door; Sam following right behind her.
Emi pushed a button next to the door and it opened, revealing a soldier in heavy armor. He said nothing, but handed a chip to Emi, and walked away. The two of them stood silently as they watched this soldier get into a military vehicle and drive away. Emi closed the door and headed to her office on the main floor. She turned it on, put the chip in, and a file opened. It was a letter… And, as Sam and Emi read the letter, their eyes widened, and their jaws dropped. The letter said,
“Dr. Emizaneth Monret, By the order of High Judge Daniir, on behalf of the Council of 1000 Worlds, you along with Samanon Az-Miin Zochorum, Last of the Wanderers, are hereby sentenced to house arrest. Under any and every circumstance, no matter how dire, you are to remain within the walls of your home. A guard shall watch your dwelling at all times; And, should you try to escape, you will be caught and tried with treason. Provisions will be provided you, whenever you should need them. Simply place a list of needed items upon the front patio of your dwelling, and an agent will retrieve whatever you ask for.
High Judge Daniir has requested that from this point on, until the Wanderer is cured, you are to send him a report of your progress every three days. You are to begin immediately after reading this letter.
The Council of 1000 Worlds wishes you luck.”
They were stunned! All they knew is that they were prisoners… Prisoners until Sam was cured. But… What then? What will happen after Sam is cured? The two looked at each other, confused and frightened. All they could do, was comply, and hope for the best. But… Something… Something in the back of Sam’s mind told him that they didn’t want to find out what happened after he was cured. Some… Wanderer primal instinct told him that they needed to get out of there, as quickly as possible. Emi looked over the letter again, as if to make sure she wasn’t misreading anything, then sighed and looked at Sam, and Sam looked at her, then Emi chuckled nervously and asked,
“So… Should… We get started?” And thus… The training began.
That was the third chapter of my book. I hope you all enjoyed; if you did, please tell me in the comment section, below. Your support is always appreciated! Remember to stay tuned for posts on all kinds of topics! If you have a suggestion for the topic of a post... Please tell me in the comments. Thanks!
Ta-ta and good-day, to you!
P.S. I'm trying to make my own sign-off-statement, thing. So, please tell me what you think. And if you have a suggestion (my brain is mush... I can only come up with so much before it dies) then post it is the comments.
You already showed it to me, so of course you already know that overall i like it :)
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